Deputy Freitas Nobre São Paulo - Congonhas Airport
São Paulo/Congonhas Airport – Deputy Freitas Nobre (CGH)
São Paulo/Congonhas Airport – Deputy Freitas Nobre (CGH) is one of the most important in Brazil. On October 17, 2023, the equipment began to be managed by Aena Brasil, after the concessionaire purchased a block of 11 Brazilian airports in an auction by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac), held in 2022.
As it has already managed, since 2020, six terminals in the Northeast, Aena Brasil now operates a total of 17 airports in the country. The company is part of the Spanish group Aena, considered the largest airport operator in the world in terms of number of passengers.
Congonhas Airport records a daily flow that exceeds 70 thousand passengers. It was from the 1990s onwards that Congonhas became the busiest airport in the country. In 1936, the year of its opening, the unit occupied an open area, chosen to host the airport due to its natural visibility and drainage conditions, as it was far from the flood regions of the Tietê River.
However, over time, Congonhas was surrounded by the metropolis and became a central airport, which currently serves Greater São Paulo with national and regional domestic flights to more than 30 destinations in Brazil, since commercial international flights from Congonhas were transferred to São Paulo International Airport, in Guarulhos, in 1985.
Soon after the inauguration, in the 1940s, through expropriations, the government of São Paulo incorporated complementary areas to the unit and began construction work on the main runway. The name of the airport, built in Vila Congonhas, then Campo Belo district, is a tribute to the Viscount of Congonhas do Campo, Lucas Antônio Monteiro de Barros, first ruler of the Province of São Paulo after the Independence of Brazil.
From the 1940s to the 2000s, the airport underwent several works to expand the passenger terminal and renovate the runways to keep up with the growth in passenger demand. In 1957, the unit was already the third largest airport in the world in terms of air cargo volume. In 2005, the equipment began to include a garage building, with 60 thousand square meters and five floors.
With architecture inspired by the art deco style, with work by Ernani do Val Penteado and Raymond A. Jehlen, the airport building is listed by the Municipal Council for the Preservation of Historical, Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the City of São Paulo (Conpresp). A trademark of São Paulo/Congonhas, the passenger terminal has a black and white checkered floor, the result of a renovation carried out in the building in 1968.
Over the next 30 years, the concession period, Aena Brasil will carry out improvement works and expansion of the unit's infrastructure. The investment will allow for an increase in passenger capacity and will include São Paulo/Congonhas – Deputy Freitas Nobre Airport (SBSP) among the most modern in Brazil.